• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Bupe Tapering off suboxone and headaches

ixy

ixy

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
69
Location
ny
Does any body know if tapering off suboxone can cause headaches? I only dropped my dose a little bit so i feel totally fine other than the headache, which could be completely unrelated. I used to get headaches when I first started taking it but they went away after a few months. I'd call my doctor but he's not in until tuesday.
 
At what dose were you at? How long had you been on it? How much did you taper down? And how long have you been at this new dose?

Try taking a little tylenon, naproxen or ibuprofen and keep hydrated. It would be a number of things, but it's probably not much to worry about. You might be a good candidate for neurontin though, as I found it eliminated headaches from w/d when I have detoxed before. But that would only be suitable if you were at a low dose already and planning to taper off the suboxone altogether soon-ish.
 
toothpastedog said:
At what dose were you at? How long had you been on it? How much did you taper down? And how long have you been at this new dose?.
Click to expand...

I was taking 16 mg a day for like a year and now i've been taking 12mg a day for maybe 4 or 5 days
 
So you went from 16 -> 12mg? Well, that is a sizable jump, but I wouldn't expect it to cause issues w/d wise. The issues generally start for people trying to taper once they get to around 2mg. So yea, I'd make sure you are hydrated and fed and slept... It could be issues with the suboxone, but it seems rather unlikely given that you're still on a high-ish dose of it.
 
toothpastedog said:
So you went from 16 -> 12mg? Well, that is a sizable jump, but I wouldn't expect it to cause issues w/d wise. The issues generally start for people trying to taper once they get to around 2mg. So yea, I'd make sure you are hydrated and fed and slept... It could be issues with the suboxone, but it seems rather unlikely given that you're still on a high-ish dose of it.
Click to expand...

This is what I was going to say.

You mentioned getting headaches when you first started Suboxone, which is a well known side effect. I'm not sure if you're aware of the "less is more" theory with suboxone (or buprenorphine in general), but it's possible that you're feeling your dose more prominently now that you've dropped down 4mg, causing an increase in side effects (though usually people who benifit from low dosing avoid this symptom). However, like TPD said, 12mg is still a high dosage, and probably not enough of a drop to create significant enough spikes and drops as far as blood levels go. I'd say it ultimately is unrelated.
 
Znegative said:
This is what I was going to say.

You mentioned getting headaches when you first started Suboxone, which is a well known side effect. I'm not sure if you're aware of the "less is more" theory with suboxone
Click to expand...
In my experience the less is more thing isn't quite the case, it's that you can only get high from suboxone up to around 2 mg, if you take more than the it cancels itself out as far as the high goes so less appears to be more and if you have a bigger tolerance than that, you just can't get high from it. But as far as using it for it's intended purpose to prevent opiate w/d more seems to be more.
 
Agreed, you'll probably want to take more than 2mg when being inducted, and staying at higher dosages like 8mg will hold someone on suboxone maintenance longer..but if you slowly taper down while on maintenance to a dose of 4mg and under, you start to get a noticeable mood lift from your doses, as your receptors are not as saturated, and more norbuprenorphine can attach to those empty receptors, giving a more full agonist feel (though this whole norbuprenorphine theory has not been proven, it can just be the more dramatic spiking in blood levels).
 
When I was on a daily dose of 12mg, and then one day would just take 8mg, by evening I would be feeling small symptoms of withdrawal; teary eyes, yawning, and yes-headaches. So even though the dose you dropped down to would still by some be considered high; it is probable that your body is reacting to the change, resulting in headaches.

Maybe try dropping your dose by a bit less, with a cushion of more days in between each "smaller" taper...
 
mareseatoats said:
When I was on a daily dose of 12mg, and then one day would just take 8mg, by evening I would be feeling small symptoms of withdrawal; teary eyes, yawning, and yes-headaches. So even though the dose you dropped down to would still by some be considered high; it is probable that your body is reacting to the change, resulting in headaches.

Maybe try dropping your dose by a bit less, with a cushion of more days in between each "smaller" taper...
Click to expand...
I don't really think it's w/d, every now and then i used to take a "break" and I would have to stop taking it for 24 hours and even then I was only barely starting to feel a little funny by the end of 24 hours, but my head didn't hurt i just felt like i had a little fever.

It's probably totally unrelated, I was just wondering if it could be some weird thing with the subs cuz they're really....weird
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top